TEST MATCH RUGBY: Cook Cup

13.11.2010
Australia v England at Twickenham

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Preview
Australia defeated Leicester 26-15 on Tuesday in a mid week fixture that has seen Australian back up hooker Huia Edmonds been ruled out of this test due to injury. This will be the only change to the Australian scrum following the win over Wales. England will probably be a more formidable scrum than the Welsh. The Australian scrum has been rugby news for some time. It certainly didn't stand up to the English onslaught in June but performed well during the Tri Nations and exceptionally well against the All Blacks in Hong Kong. It will be a well watched feature of this match.

Martin Johnson would have to be happy the way his English team performed against the All Blacks in the second half. They will need to play the full eighty minutes if they hope to defeat the Aussies

Last Five Encounters
19.06.2010 England 21-20 in Sydney (Cook Cup)
12.06.2010 Australia 27-17 in Perth (Cook Cup)
07.11.2009 Australia 18-9 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
15.11.2008 Australia 28-14 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
06.10.2007 England 12-10 in Marseilles (World Cup, Quarter Final)

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Australia 1st, England 8th

IRB Rankings
Australia 87.89 (2nd), England 81.62 (5th)

Prediction: England to stir the pot, and win by 7 points

Teams

England
15 Benjamin Foden, 14 Christopher Ashton, 13 Michael Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Tobias Flood, 9 Benjamin Youngs, 8 Nicholas Easter, 7 Lewis Moody, Capt. 6 Thomas Croft, 5 Thomas Palmer, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Daniel Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements
16 Steven Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendrie Fourie, 20 Daniel Care, 21 Charles Hodgson, 22 Delon Armitage.
Head Coach: Martin Johnson

Australia
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Matthew Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Benjamin McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (capt), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Benjamin Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements
16 Saia Faingaa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Richard Brown, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Berrick Barnes, 22 Lachie Turner.
Head Coach: Robbie Deans

TEST RUGBY: Poms out for Revenge

19.06.2010
England v Australia in Sydney (Cook Cup)

Venue: ANZ Stadium

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Preview
England's coach Martin Johnson will want to reestablish England's place in the rugby world by winning here in Sydney as he did as captain of the 2007 side that defeated Australia on this ground. More alarmingly though will be England's record against Southern hemisphere sides since 2007-10 straight losses!

A new-look Aussie side handed England a lesson on playing with spirit and flare when faced with a daunting forward mauling last weekend. Robbie dean's is molding this Australian team into a spirited and inventive side that may well take the New Zealanders and South African's by surprise in the Tri Nations this year.

What can England do? They will dominate up front in the set pieces for sure. But I suspect Australia will have an edge elsewhere on the park. The English will again miss Jonny Wilkinson's generalship and defence qualities as he sits on the bench again. He is not in his best form yes but there looked to be nobody else who can direct play like he can. Big mistake England!

Jonny Wilkinson will not be in the starting lineup. Is this a mistake?

Last Five Encounters
12.06.2010 Australia 27-17 in Perth
07.11.2009 Australia 18-9 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
15.11.2008 Australia 28-14 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
06.10.2007 England 12-10 at Marseilles (World Cup, Quarter-final)
17.06.2006 Australia 43-18 in Melbourne (Cook Cup)

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Australia 7th, England 8th
IRB Rankings-Australia 3rd (85.71), England 6th (79.95)

Prediction: England provides the power, Australia provides the flare, and will win by 15 points.

Teams

Australia
J O'Connor (WA Western Force); D Mitchell (NSW Waratahs), R Horne (NSW Waratahs), M Giteau (ACT Brumbies), D Ioane (Queensland Reds); Q Cooper (Queensland Reds), W Genia (Queensland Reds); B Daley (Queensland Reds), S Faingaa (Queensland Reds), S Ma'afu (ACT Brumbies), D Mumm (NSW Waratahs), N Sharpe (WA Western Force), R Elsom, Capt. (ACT Brumbies), D Pocock (WA Western Force), R Brown (WA Western Force)
Replacements: H Edmonds (ACT Brumbies), J Slipper (Queensland Reds), M Chisholm (ACT Brumbies), M Hodgson (Western Force), L Burgess (NSW Waratahs), B Barnes (NSW Waratahs), A Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies)
Head Coach: Robbie Deans

England:
B Foden (Northampton); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), C Ashton (Northampton); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); T Payne (Wasps), S Thompson (Brive, France), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais, France), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody, Capt. (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins)
Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Haskell (Stade Francais, France), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon, France), D Armitage (London Irish)
Head Coach: Martin Johnson

RUGBY TEST MATCH: England Against Australia

12.06.2010
England v Australia in Perth

Venue: Subiaco Oval

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

Preview
Whilst not quite reaching the intensity of the Ashes cricket series between these two nations, a rugby test match still brings out a bit of the colonial boys v the home country feelings. Both teams certainly have a lot to prove.

Robbie Deans, the Aussie coach, is having to rapidly build this young side into a World Cup finals contender. They have a little over a year to get it right and there are promising signs. Injuries has certainly made Deans' job difficult and the retirement of world-class flanker Smith has left the team vulnerable in the loose play. In fact only Elsom remains from the starting 15 who played England last November. Veteran Nathan Sharp is back, thankfully, to give the Australian pack much needed experience. Still, the opportunity is there for younger players to make their mark in this game and to force their way into the Australian side next year.

England, frankly, are playing poorly and have done so, well, since the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Their huge and experienced forward pack would have few equals in the world. This pack has been largely kept together for this tour. This is an area in which England should dominate. But those backs! For the money that is behind this England team, and with players like Wilkinson, the flare and the skill are frankly just missing. I have found watching England play just boring! Step up England and produce!

Last Five Encounters
07.11.2009 Australia 18-9 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
15.11.2008 Australia 28-14 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
06.10.2007 England 12-10 at Marseilles (World Cup, Quarter-final)
17.06.2006 Australia 43-18 in Melbourne (Cook Cup)
11.06.2006 Australia 34-3 in Sydney (Cook Cup)

Australia hold the Cook Cup, symbol of rivalry between these two nations. They have held it since June 2006. This is the first time England has played a test match in Perth.

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-England 6th, Australia 8th
IRB Rankings-Australia 3rd (85.56), England 7th (80.10)

Prediction: It won't be pretty, but England to grunt it by 3

Teams

Australia
15 James O'Connor, 14 Digby Ioane, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, Capt. 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 James Slipper, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Will Genia, 21 Peter Hynes, 22 Kurtley Beale.
Head Coach: Robbie Deans

England
15 Ben Foden, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody, Capt. 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 David Wilson, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Mathew Tait.
Head Coach: Martin Johnson

International Rugby: Australia Faces England

07.11.2009
Australia v England at Twickenham (Cook Cup)

Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)

Preview
Australia and England square off in an international rugby match that promises to be a close encounter.

England has lurched from injury woe to injury worry in the last month. Enough front line elite players are out with injury they could make a starting lineup themselves. Martin Johnson has managed to put together a team that has a number of old hands back on deck and a few new ones as well. The most interesting recall is the great Jonny Wilkinson. Now a veteran aged 29 years and some 70 tests, he now plays in France and whose form looks as good as ever. Has he got what it still takes to step up a notch to international level.

Jonny Wilkinson is back. Image thanks to www.rfu.com

Australia is struggling to find any sort of consistent form. They have defeated the mighty Springbox once this year and came within a point of the All Blacks around about the same time. But other than those two matches they have looked a step below their Tri Nation brothers. They have a new captain in Rocky Elsom and a coach who is beginning to attract unfavourable media comment. Aussies simply have no time for a team that is consistently losing. They simply must win this game to have any sort of international credibility and to keep the faithful interested back home.

Last Five Encounters
15.11.2008 Australia 28-14 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)
06.10.2007 England 12-10 in Marseilles (World Cup, Quarter Final)
17.06.2006 Australia 43-18 in Melbourne (Cook Cup)
11.06.2006 Australia 34-3 in Sydney (Cook Cup)
12.11.2005 England 26-16 at Twickenham (Cook Cup)

GWC Rugby Rankings: World Table-Australia 3rd, England 6th

Prediction: Australia by 3 points

Teams

England
15 Ugo Monye (Harlequins) Age 26, 6 tests
14 Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks) 29, 31
13 Daniel Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers) 27, 9
12 Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints) 23, 3
11 Matthew Banahan (Bath Rugby) 23, 2
10 Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon, France) 29, 70
9 Daniel Care (Harlequins) 22, 11
8 Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers) 23, 2
7 Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers) 31, 53
6 Thomas Croft (Leicester Tigers) 23, 12
5 Steven Borthwick, Capt. (Saracens) 29, 51
4 Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers) 29, 8
3 David Wilson (Bath Rugby) 24, 2
2 Steven Thompson (CA Brive, France) 31, 43
1 Timothy Payne (London Wasps) 30, 12
Replacements
16 Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) 23, 11
17 Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby) 35, 2
18 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints) 20, New Cap
19 James Haskell (Stade Francais, France) 24, 19
20 Paul Hodgson (London Irish) 27, 3
21 Andrew Goode (CA Brive, France) 29, 16
22 Ayoola Erinle (Biarritz Olympique, France) 29, New Cap

Head Coach: Martin Johnson

Australia
15 Adam Ashley-Cooper
14 Peter Hynes
13 Digby Ioane
12 Quade Cooper
11 Drew Mitchell
10 Matt Giteau
9 Will Genia
8 Wycliff Palu
7 George Smith
6 Rocky Elsom, (captain)
5 Mark Chisholm
4 James Horwill
3 Ben Alexander
2 Stephen Moore
1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements
16 Tatafu Polota Nau
17 Matt Dunning
18 Dean Mumm
19 David Pocock
20 Luke Burgess
21 Ryan Cross
22 James O'Connor
Head Coach: Robbie Deans